Where Next?

18th January 2019

There have been so many changes in photography in recent years it is hard to predict what more changes there are to come. Could the developments we have seen have been predicted? Or are we stumbling blind into the next ten years of digital technology advances? It’s safe to say there will be change, it just comes down to how much this change will impact the processes in photography we follow today. Technology is always advancing, as I have spoken about, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

Camera Phones…

Like I said in my comparison post, it is hard to find someone these days that doesn’t have some kind of camera on their phone, even if it isn’t the best quality. Camera phones are dominating the market at the moment, and I think it’s a safe assumption to say they’re only going to get better. As technology advances, companies are finding new ways to incorporate night quality cameras into their phones, they are managing to fit multiple cameras on the front and rear screens with ever increasing quality. The fact that a high quality camera is available on a smartphone, something that most people already own is a bonus. People are shopping for mobile phones taking the camera quality into consideration, as the ability to carry around a high quality camera on such a small device that has hundreds of other uses is undeniably convenient.

This high quality is making it harder for camera companies to get people interested in purchasing cameras, as the type of camera they may purchase with the same abilities as a phone camera could set them back a significant amount of extra cash. Competition is always healthy in business but is this competition going too far? I’ve previously mentioned the potential death of the DSLR and how the ever increasing quality of camera phones is diminishing the market for camera companies. This shows how digital advances could soon mean the industry as we know it will crumble.

However, it could be said that this may have an opposite impact on the industry, as higher quality camera phones may introduce more people to photography as a hobby or potential career and therefore cause an increase in the number of people purchasing DSLR cameras, or other professional camera equipment. The initial introduction into photography may come from a smartphone but I think for quite some time still there will be a gap in quality- that can only be fixed with a higher quality camera. While it is highly unlikely that everyone who gets a high quality camera phone will decided to take up photography more seriously, the wider availability of photography to people may have a positive effect.

Kids and Weddings…

It’s easy to say that disposable cameras are going to die out in no time thanks to most people owning a smartphone, BUT there is still something to be said for the convenience and experience of disposable cameras. For example, weddings are still a huge market for the disposable camera industry, as they are cheap to purchase and when people have been drinking they may be fearful of damaging their costly smartphones… making the disposable camera a perfect solution. Photos can still be taken, and the memory captured, will much less risk of damage to expensive phones. I can say personally I have yet to attend a wedding where disposable cameras were NOT used by guests.

In addition to this, while children are being given phones at much younger ages now it isn’t likely that parents are forking out hundreds to get them the latest smart phone (if so then LUCKY THEM). This means that parents may still be turning to disposable cameras for their children much like my parents did for us. Kids love to get involved, and rather than risk them dropping or damaging their own phones, a much safer option is to give them a disposable camera and let them go crazy.

All of this might just be wishful thinking on my part, but I can’t help but hope that when I have children of my own I will be able to give them the same experiences I had as a child, right down to the disposable cameras on family holidays. While technology is ever finding new ways to improve the quality of camera phones I firmly believe there will always be a place for amateur photography as we know it.